BOSTON – The emergence of the trio of Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Michael Ryder as an offensive force can be easily quantified by looking at the seven goals and 16 points the three have combined to produce through the Bruins’ first 10 postseason games.

However, that trio has also become effective enough at the other end of the ice that head coach Claude Julien doesn’t have to sweat about match-ups at home or on the road during the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series with Philadelphia.

The Bruins are ahead, 3-0, in the series, and the Peverley line (PoRK Line?) has been a two-way force throughout the three games.

“Our third line, I’ve been able to play them against top lines of the other team because they have been reliable defensively as well,” Julien recently said. “When you’ve got a Chris Kelly who is such a good two-way player and the other two have played so well, it has really given us some flexibility and comfort. I know that we can play them in different situations.”

The third line has combined for a plus-12 in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. Instead of Julien worrying about match-ups, opponents now have to decide which line to play its shutdown pair against and who to avoid with their top scoring trios.

“I think it kind of helps that Chris and I are very familiar with down low playing the center position. It’s whoever’s back first, basically, will play down low,” said Peverley. “So I think that if we can continue to do that – even ‘Rides’ is pretty good down there – so if we can use our speed, we can continue to try to get the puck back.”

Added Ryder: “Both of them take faceoffs at different spots. It’s pretty neat when you have that option, and [both] of them are pretty good at winning them. In our own end, we talk a lot. It seems to help when we talk and we don’t panic, we just relax and talk to each other and figure it out from there.”

While the 16 points it has produced is probably more than double what was expected when the playoffs started, the line still wants to contribute more to back up its solid defensive play. Kelly crashed the net and cashed in for his fourth postseason goal during Game 2 after Ryder made his presence felt in front of the Philadelphia goal. Ryder hasn’t scored since he lit the lamp twice in Game 4 against Montreal. Peverley’s lone goal came in Game 3 with the Habs. He hit the post in overtime the other night and fired just one shot on goal in the contest. Ryder had the only shot on net from the three players in the Game 3 win over Philly.

“I think it’s about shooting more,” said Peverley, who fired 17 shots on goal in the seven-game Montreal series. “I didn’t shoot as much as I think I could [in Game 2], trying to make plays a little bit. But I think that our line’s done a good job of creating chances.”

Those chances, even the ones that don’t result in goals, force opponents to work extra hard in their own and build momentum in the Bruins’ favor. Just as Chiarelli drew it up just a few months ago, Boston’s third line has become a match-up problem at both ends.

“We’re strong on the puck now. We’re getting the pucks in and we’re pretty responsible in our own end,” said Ryder. “When we protect the puck and we throw pucks as the net, good things seem to be happening.”

Admit I forgot about Savard entirely. Checking out apgeek.com suggests that with Savard we have 7.15m before bonuses, after bonuses of 2.65m we get 4.50m. Assume a cap increase of 2.5 (if anyone has a solid number it would help) we are now at 7.om add Savard to that and we have 11.01m. If recchi comes back, we take him every day of the week and twice on tuesdays for approx 1.5-2m, Marchand comes back @ approx. 2.5m, 2yrs. Ryder can be interchanged with Recchi for this instance. Assuming Savard comes back (a forward upgrade), we would have 7.0m-4.5m=2.5m for another defenseman and have 13 forwards and already a full set of d-men. Of course, we have also forgotten Seguin, whose salary is still counted and should be 3rd-line worthy next season, meaning that Marchand is the only one who should be getting paid this off-season short of a legitimate #2 (Pitkanen would be nice) with about 4.5m free. things just get more wide open if savard doesn’t likely return though.

Agreed that Chia Pete is doing a great job. Just so many better thing to do with 2m than return of the slacker.

Rough Numbers: Savard is Done. Sorry. Recchi, Ryder or Kaberle amount to 10M. Plus 3M for the cap. That’s 13M to play with. Recchi will retire. Marchand gets 2M raise. That’s 11m. If you give Ryder 2M – that’s 9M for two spots. (or you slot in Caron, Sauve or Another kid for equivalent money) With 9M for one Dman and one forward, plus an opportunity to upgrade a forward spot through trade (say.. Looch for Nash for example).

I said they would be our difference maker before these playoffs began. You MAY be able to match Bergy and Krecji’s line, but what do you have left to go against these 3??! What I didn’t expect was the clutch goals we’ve got out of them, or that Kelly would turn out to be the best purchase at the 2011 Sens clearance sale.

Ryder likely won’t be back. He’ll still fetch 3+million somewhere and with more playing time in offensive situations he’ll do just as Wheeler did. Up his numbers. Wheels had 17 pts in 23 games, in ATL, leading the team in points, following trade.

Smaha,
Understand your gut feelings, as a man making $1.5-2m, ryder is far more attractive than if he was making $4m. But, next season, we have approx. $4m in cap space with recchi, marchand, ryder, and Kaberle needing new deals. That said, we need two forwards to stay at 12 and another #2 caliber d-man (which kaberle is whether or not the points have come). So that is $4million for 3 players to stay at a fully stocked team, although we could always do what NJ did this year and ice 3 lines.

That said, re-signing Marchand($2-3m) has got to be a priority given age, and what he accomplished this season. If we don’t sign recchi ($1.5m), there is Caron who is about ready to make the jump($1m) and before adding another #2 we are already out of money. So they likelyhood ryder resigns is about the same likelyhood as Boston fans cheering for NY Yankees to win a world series: It could happen, but I’d expect a volcano to erupt in Malden first.

I’ve been on and off the Ryder bandwagon so many times this year, I might as well start selling tickets. It’s maddening to watch, but the one thing I keep coming back to is consistency in lines. Ryder was at his best when he could look across the ice and reliably see Krecji and Wheeler. This year has been so different, with a bajillion different combos.

Not making excuses, and not saying the Bs should hand over fists full of money, but it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to sign Ryder for another 2 years at $1.75 – $2.0 each if they can. This line as a steady unit all next year could be the best 3rd line in the league.

Sometimes teams undervalue their own players because the grass is always greener. Just as the Red Sox how they feel about V-Mart.

I think Peverly has turned out to be one of our best pre deadline pick ups-he has done things Wheeler wouldn’t have done ever.

Kelly has turned into a beast in the play offs and I think he and Peverly started to click at the right time. Given their play off performances I don’t mind keeping both of them through the next season (I think both are contracted for at least one more year).

Ryder is Ryder and while he has turned it on this play offs and I loved seeing him kill the Habs, I still don’t want to see him wearing a Bruin’s sweater next season.

Ryder and Kelly are both proven veterans in the postseason. They both have a reputation for coasting through the regular season and igniting in the postseason. Peverley is a speedy and creative forward and has the ability to create chances north-south and east-west. I really like this line.